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“Her voice gets under your skin. It is idiosyncratic, but it is trustworthy in its clarity and almost physical in its intimacy. Her intuitive interpretations and riveting voice make you sit very still in your chair.”
– Stereophile
All good singers can tell a story, but great ones pull you into the narrative. For Gabrielle Cavassa, it’s not her tone or technical prowess that move the listener, but rather the way she inhabits every song. Evoking Billie Holiday, she’ll sing around a melody, push and pull the timing, and feel her way through a lyric to find its raw, distilled truth – producing something unexpected and unforgettable.
On her Blue Note debut, “Diavola,” Gabrielle shows her range as band leader, songwriter, and fearless song interpreter. Co-produced by jazz titan and 32BB Voice Joshua Redman and BN President Don Was – and featuring a stellar cast of collaborators (Jeff Parker on guitar, Larry Grenadier on bass, Paul Cornish on piano, Redman on sax, and 32BB Voice Brian Blade on drums), the album explores the duality of human nature – angel and devil – a dynamic central to Gabrielle’s artistry and identity. "I’m not willing to let go of either,” she says, “or I haven’t been able to."
The journey includes a stirring rendition of “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” with arpeggiating chords and buoyant groove; her cool, Riviera-tinged original “Bossy Nova”; the devastating “To Say Goodbye,” which serves as the record’s turning point; the eerily vulnerable “Be My Love”; a dreamlike cover of Manilow’s “Could It Be Magic?”; and the simple closer, “La notte dell’addio.” “It was the last thing we recorded,” Gabrielle says, “a gentle kind of hope and acknowledgment of what we’ve been through.” It’s a poignant journey – and one worth taking.
